Set to Become Biggest Free Meal Prog, Reliance Foundation's 'Mission Anna Seva' to Provide 3cr Meals

New Delhi: Aiming to become the largest free meal programme by any corporate foundation globally, Reliance Foundation's 'Mission Anna Seva' is set to provide over 3 crore meals to marginalised communities and frontline workers facing hardships during the coronavirus lockdown.

Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of India's largest firm Reliance Industries, has pledged free meals, build country's first Covid-19 hospital and is supplying PPEs and masks as part of its effort to help the nation fight the Covid-19 pandemic. It has already distributed over 2 crore meals in 68 districts across 16 states and one Union territory.

"Covid-19 is an unprecedented pandemic for the world, for India and for humanity. These are difficult times," Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani said in an employee communication.

Under the programme, Reliance Foundation is providing cooked meals, ready-to-eat food packets and dry ration kits to families and bulk ration to community kitchens.

The beneficiaries of the programme include daily wage earners, slum dwellers, urban service providers, factory workers, and residents of old-age homes and orphanages.

At some locations, Reliance Foundation is also distributing food tokens that could be redeemed at Reliance Retail outlets, such as Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart Superstore, Reliance Smart Point, and Sahakari Bhandar.

Nita Ambani, who is also a director on board of Reliance Industries, said safety of company employees and their families was top priority.

"Through Mission Anna Seva, we will provide over 3 crore meals to marginalised communities and frontline workers across the nation," she said adding "Mission Anna Seva will be the largest meal distribution programme ever undertaken by a corporate foundation anywhere in the world."

The beneficiaries of the programme, she said, include daily wage earners, slum dwellers, urban service provides, factory workers and residents of old-age home and orphanages.

The unprecedented nationwide lockdown imposed from March 25 shut factories and restricted movement of people and goods, rendering millions of people temporarily unemployed.

She said Reliance has in partnership with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) set up India's first 100-bed exclusive COVID-19 hospital in Mumbai in just two weeks. "We are now expanding this facility to a capacity of 250 beds," she said.

"We will produce one lakh masks and hundred thousand PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) daily for health-workers and caregivers across India," she said.

"Our colleagues at Reliance Retail are working overtime to provide essential supplies every day to millions of Indian through our stores and home deliveries across over 200 cities," she said adding "our colleagues in Jio are providing uninterrupted digital connectivity to over 40 crore individuals and thousands of organisations."

Reliance Foundation has donated Rs 535 crore to various relief funds, including the PM CARES Fund, she said.

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